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Enter Dashboard, Expose, or Spaces Temporarily

Hold down F9, F10, F11, or F12 (or whatever you've set for the Expose and Spaces keyboard shortcuts) for a few seconds, and then release the key to enter and leave the appropriate mode without having to press the key again. This is particularly useful for Dashboard, in which you can check the contents of a widget and then return to your work with only a single key press.

TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 4 January 2010

Things 1.2.8 -- Cultured Code has released a minor update to the popular task manager Things that fixes five bugs. The bugs fixed could cause Things to open with a blank window and remain unresponsive, to recreate Quick Entry dialog shortcuts that had been removed by the user, to generate duplicates of certain file links when opening their related to-do items, and to crash when running version 1.2.5 with a 1.2.6 database. Also, this update fixes a bug related to sync conflicts with the Today list, though the fix is dependent on installing the latest iPhone version of Things (1.3.12). Lastly, several minor localization issues have been resolved. ($49.95 new, free
update, 8.3 MB)

27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 -- Apple has released a much-needed firmware update for the 27-inch iMac that aims to address that model's widespread display problems. The update is for the ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics cards, and corrects issues causing "image corruption or display flickering." Those issues have been widely discussed in Apple's Support Discussion forums (see "New iMac Screens Cracking and Flickering," 10 December 2009) in conjunction with instances of shipped iMacs arriving with cracked screens - still no word on that latter problem. Finally, take heed of this important warning
in Apple's release notes: "Do not disturb or shut off the power on your iMac during this update. Loss of power could result in your iMac failing to start up." The update is available via Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads page. (Free, 683 KB)

Keyboard Maestro 4.0.1 -- Stairways Software has released a minor maintenance and stability update to the popular macro utility Keyboard Maestro. Version 4.0.1 resolves an issue that caused slow typing speeds when simulating keystrokes, fixes a bug that enabled multiple engines to run at once, prevents simulating keys from causing hot keys to trigger, and addresses a crashing bug that affected users running Mac OS X 10.5. Also, support for Growling macro execution has been added, the Remap Forward Delete macro is now disabled by default, and a 10-second emergency timeout has been added on trigger repeat. ($36 new, $18 upgrade from 3.x, free update, 7.6 MB)

Mail Services Update 1.0 -- Apple's Mail Services Update 1.0 for Snow Leopard Server comes with brief release notes, stating only that it addresses "issues affecting overall mail service reliability and performance." Although Apple recommends the update for all users running Mac OS X Server 10.6.2, there have been reports of it causing problems, along with a possible solution outlined in an Apple Discussions thread. It's available via Software Update or the Apple Support Downloads page. Installation instructions for the update are available
on Apple's Web site. (Free, 20.59 MB)

Firefox 3.5.6 -- Mozilla has released a substantial security update to the popular Web browser Firefox. While release notes are terse, saying only that the update fixes "several stability/security issues", the bug list indicates several critical vulnerabilities have been addressed, including three that could be exploited to crash the browser and run arbitrary code. (Free, 17.6 MB)

Pro Tools 8.0.3 -- With version 8.0.3, Digidesign has brought Snow Leopard compatibility to its professional audio editing software Pro Tools, which also now requires an Intel-based Mac. In general, Pro Tools 8 offers a refreshed interface, the capability to work with three times as many audio tracks, an added Score Editor, a new MIDI editor, an Elastic Pitch feature, and new track compositing capabilities. (New purchase and upgrade prices vary widely.)

Hazel 2.3.5 -- Noodlesoft has released a maintenance update to the file cleanup utility Hazel. Version 2.3.5 can sequentially renumber files, reference the source folder in rules so as to be able to mimic folder structures when copying and moving files, run AppleScript bundles, and integrate with Yazsoft's Speed Download to clean up incomplete and duplicate downloads. Also, a handful of minor interface tweaks have been made, AppSweep now cleans out Growl tickets and the Caches folder under /var/folders, and a number of bugs have been fixed. The full release notes are available via Noodlesoft's Web site.
($21.95, free update, 3.9 MB)

Epson Printer Drivers 2.2 for Mac OS X 10.6.1 -- Apple has released a driver update that "includes the latest Epson printing and scanning software for Snow Leopard." More information on supported Epson printers is available on Apple's Web site. The update is available via Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads page. (Free, 546 MB)

Lexmark Printer Drivers 2.2 for Mac OS X 10.6 -- Apple has released a Snow Leopard driver update for Lexmark printers that "includes the latest drivers for printers you have used on your system." More information on supported Lexmark printers is available from Apple's Web site. The update is available via Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads page. (Free, 121 MB)